the sound of silence

i happened across a "whats your religion" quiz while working on my homework, naturally i felt the need to do it immediately and found I was put into the box of Orthodox Quaker (according to them at least). Naturally, I had to read up on Quakers, and the Friends, right then as well, no better time than the present! Especially when there is hoemwork to avoid! But I am happy for the distraction- what i found was what I needed to.

They call it unstructured worship meeting. Basically people get together with the purpose of seeing what The Man has to tell them. Then they wait. be still, know He is Lord

At first I thought, this is cool. no program, no structure, just seeing what God is up to in their hearts and letting Him lead them in whatever way He will. Meditating and sharing as seen fit. Then i remembered Gods promise: Whenever two or more are gathered, there I will be. How much more if we sit in silence for a while and seek His will? What would happen if more churches tried that? Sitting in unadorned rooms with no Jesus inspired eye candy and moving music for distractions (or inspiration)? I think in many ways it would test peoples faith. Stripping all the programs and fanciness that we have become addicted to in our churchs and homegroups, simplifying it to just being people, seeking God.

Another think I appreciated about their meeting is the use of queries instead of mandating how people act or interact. They choose to consider questions, as a body, that they think are important to spiritual growth, an important for life affirming interaction. I think that as disciples, we all should challenge ourselves and think of questions to throw at ourselves that challenge the way we interact with the world . Like for me, I think it is good to ask things like What am i really fostering here, what spirit am i bringing into the picture? Is it God, is it me, is it crap?


If anyone has anything they feel is good to ponder, please post; perhaps your question will spur unforeseen growth. and growth means flowers, and that means fruit!